Shower chair

ABSTRACT

A chair for supporting an infirmary or metal patient while being showered and dried, the chair consisting of a frame mounted upon rollable casters, the chair back rest having only two narrow slats therein, and the chair including an upwardly pivotable unit so to keep the patient&#39;&#39;s legs apart during washing and drying operation.

United States Patent [191 Harris [4 1 May 1, 1973 [54] SHOWER CHAIR 2,776,701 1/1957 Denis ..297/6 3,488,088 l/197O Goldberg et a]... ..297/5 [76] Inventor: Darel E. Harris, 1713 Tyler St., 3,158,398 11/1964 Stryker ..297/DIG. 10 Conway, Ark. 72032 2,482,996 9/1949 Wisby ..297/312 [22] Filed: July 1971 Primary Examiner-Casmir A. Nunberg [21] Appl. No.: 166,742

[57] ABSTRACT 52 US. Cl. ..297/445, 297/5, 297/312, A F f Supporting fi "f K 'F 297/384 while being showered and dried, the chair consisting of a frame mounted upon rollable casters, the chair [51] Int. Cl ..A47c 7/00, A470 7/20 back rest having only two narrow slats therein and the [58] Field Of Search ..297/5, 6, 384, 445, Chair including an upwardly pivotable unit so to keep 312,333,423 the patients legs apart during washing and drying operation. [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1 Claim, 2 Drawing Figures 3,354,893 11/1967 Schmerl ..297/6 X PAT ENTED KAY 1 1975 FIG. 2

INVENTOR SHOWER CHAIR This invention relates generally to chairs. More specifically it relates to chairs for use by invalids and patients.

It is generally well known to hospital attendants that it is difficult to efficiently wash and dry an invalid patient when he is seated in the conventional type of chair presently being used by most hospitals and rest homes. Such chairs are constructed so that they do not readily permit the attendants to get their hands to all parts of the patients body due to the chair construction being in the way. This situation is, of course, objectionable and therefore in want of improvement.

Accordingly it is the principal object of the present invention to provide a shower chair for supporting infirmary or mental patients during a washing and drying operation and wherein the chair has self-contained means so that the attendants have ready access to all parts ofthe persons body.

Another object of the-present invention is to provide.

a shower chair which accordingly includes a back rest provided with only two narrow slats so to let the attendant to wash the persons back while resting there against.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a shower chair which includes an upwardly pivotable unit for maintaining the patients legs spread apart during the washing and drying.

Still another purpose of the present invention is to provide a shower chair which is mounted upon four caster wheels for effortless moving of the patient in and out of the shower.

Still another purpose of the present invention is to provide a shower chair wherein the seat bottom consists of only two'spread apart supporting members for placement of the buttocks there upon so that the attendant has access to wash and dry the anus and sex organ.

Other objects of the present invention are to provide a shower chair which is simple in design, inexpensive to manufacture, rugged in construction, easy to use and efficient in operation.

These and other objects will be readily evident upon a study of the following specification and the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of the present invention, and

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary front elevation view thereof.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the reference numeral represents a shower chair according to the present invention wherein there is a chair frame 11 made of tubular aluminum material or the like and which is mounted upon a plurality of four caster wheels 12 so that the chair can be relatively effortlessly moved with a patient seated thereupon.

The frame ll includes a back rest 13 that consists of an inverted Ushaped frame member which at its lower end is enjoined to vertical rear legs 14.

The frame includes a pair of front legs 15, the lower portions of the front and rear legs being enjoined to a horizontal U-shaped frame member 16. A pair of arm rests 17 are each enjoined at their forward ends to the upper end of the front legs 15, and at their rear ends are enjoined to an intermediate portion of the inverted U- shaped frame member 13 of the back rest.

Between the upper ends of the front legs there is a horizontally extending cylindrical bar 18 to the center of which there is enjoined fixedly a U-shaped frame element 19 made likewise of tubular aluminum, the opposite ends of the bar 18 being freely pivotable within bearings 20 at the upper ends of the front legs 15, and one protruding terminal end of the bar 18 being provided with a crank handle 21 so that the bar 18 may be rotated so to bring the frame element 19 from the down position indicated by the solid lines in FIG. 2 to the upward position indicated by the phantom lines in the same Figure.

The crank handle 21 includes a threaded opening 22 within a hub 23 on the end of the crank handle, the

a threaded opening 22 receiving a threaded screw 24 the end of which is accordingly selectively receivable within an opening 25 in a side of the leg 15 so to retain the frame element in an upward position, or the screw end being engageable within an opening 26 in the leg 15 so to retain the frame element 19 in a downward position.

An important feature of the present invention consists in a pair of seat pads 27 being secured or supported'at their front end upon the rotating bar 18, the rear end of each pad 27 being supported from a short horizontally extending bar 28 which at one end is rigidly affixed to the junction of the upper end of rear leg 14 and the lower end of the U-shaped back rest member of the back rest.

Accordingly there are two horizontal bars 28 which are in axial alignment with each other, each of the bars 28 being supported at its one end fixedly as above described, and the opposite thereof being spaced apart so to provide a space there between within which an attendant has free access to place his hand in washing a rear lower part ofa patients body.

The spaced apart ends of the bars 28 are each enjoined to a vertically slat 29 which at its upper opposite end is supported around the horizontal intermediate portion of the inverted U-shaped back rest frame member. Thus the attendant can move his hand along the patients back and his underside with one continuing movement without the necessity of any interfering chair structure.

As is shown in FIG. 2, the pads 22 are likewise separated with a space 30 there between so that the attendants hand in washing and drying can reach fully forward beneath the patient as far as the front cross bar 18.

Thus there is provided a shower chair having numerous advantages over conventional chairs used when washing and drying a patient.

What I now claim is:

1. In a shower chair, the combination of a tubular aluminum chair frame mounted upon a plurality of four caster wheels, and said chair frame incorporating means to allow an attendant to readily reach normally inaccessible parts of a seated patient during a washing and drying operation, said chair frame having means for maintaining said patients legs spread apart, said chair frame including a horizontal front bar between the upper ends of a pair of front legs of said frame, said horizontal bar at its center having a U-shaped frame secured thereto for spreading apart said patients legs in the vicinity of his knees, the opposite ends of said bars being freely pivotable within bearings and near the upper portions of said front legs, one end of said bar protruding outwardly of said front leg and having a crank handle secured thereto, said chair frame including a seat consisting of two sidewardly spaced apart pads, said chair frame also including a back rest consisting of an inverted U-shaped frame member which at its upper end forms a transverse leg that supports a pair of narrow, spaced apart slats, the lower ends of said slats each being secured to one end of one of a pair of horizontally extending, transverse short bars each of which at its opposite end is secured to a junction of a lower end of said back rest frame member and an upper end of a rear leg, a space being between said short bars which together with a space between said slats and a space between said pads thus forms a central open area that is continuous between said transverse leg of said inverted frame of said back rest and said horizontal bar between the upper end of said front legs so that an attendant has full access to wash and dry all of a center back of said patient as well as the under side of all of his private parts, said seat pads being supported at their front ends upon said front horizontal bar, a rear end of said pads being supported upon the first said ends of each said short rear bar. 

1. In a shower chair, the combination of a tubular aluminum chair frame mounted upon a plurality of four caster wheels, and said chair frame incorporating means to allow an attendant to readily reach normally inaccessible parts of a seated patient during a washing and drying operation, said chair frame having means for maintaining said patient''s legs spread apart, said chair frame including a horizontal front bar between the upper ends of a pair of front legs of said frame, said horizontal bar at its center having a U-shaped frame secured thereto for spreading apart said patient''s legs in the vicinity of his knees, the opposite ends of said bars being freely pivotable within bearings and near the upper portions of said front legs, one end of said bar protruding outwardly of said front leg and having a crank handle secured thereto, said chair frame including a seat consisting of two sidewardly spaced apart pads, said chair frame also including a back rest consisting of an inverted U-shaped frame member which at its upper end forms a transverse leg that supports a pair of narrow, spaced apart slats, the lower ends of said slats each being secured to one end of one of a pair of horizontally extending, transverse short bars each of which at its opposite end is secured to a junction of a lower end of said back rest frame member and an upper end of a rear leg, a space being between said short bars which together with a space betWeen said slats and a space between said pads thus forms a central open area that is continuous between said transverse leg of said inverted frame of said back rest and said horizontal bar between the upper end of said front legs so that an attendant has full access to wash and dry all of a center back of said patient as well as the under side of all of his private parts, said seat pads being supported at their front ends upon said front horizontal bar, a rear end of said pads being supported upon the first said ends of each said short rear bar. 